The senior official said on Monday (April 21): “Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis.
“At 7.35am this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church.
“He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalised.
“With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God,” Sky News reports.
Pope Francis dies aged 88
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis was the son of Italian immigrants.
As a child, he suffered from a severe case of pleurisy, which required part of one of his lungs to be removed.
Keen for education, he studied philosophy and theology at the Archdiocesan Seminary of Buenos Aires where he earned his doctorate in theology.
Aged 33, he became an ordained priest before later serving as the Rector of the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel.
In 1992, he was appointed the Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires before later becoming the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998.
A few years later in 1991, Pope John Paul II elevated Pope Francis to a Cardinal.
In 2013, he was elected the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope Francis took on the name Francis in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi and became the first Pope from Southern America.
